Is CIA Corruption Inquiry Too Narrow?

As Josh noted a couple weeks ago, the CIA Inspector General has opened an investigation into Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, a CIA career official with ties to Brent Wilkes, the crooked defense/intel contractor who bribed former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-CA) with more than half a million dollars.

Foggo, a "lifelong friend" of Wilkes, has been involved in contracting at the CIA for much of his career, including support for 'operations.' In other words, making sure spies in the field have what they need to complete their missions. Support people are supposed to find ways to get the mission done, and Foggo's said to have had a willingness to bend the rules to get what he wanted.

But it appears now that Foggo may have taken that a step further; Newsweek reports the CIA IG is examining Foggo's involvement in landing a $2 million to $3 million contract for a company connected to his pal Wilkes to deliver bottled water to CIA operatives in the field.

For now the Foggo investigation is focused on a single contract -- but there is widespread speculation that he had more going on than that. And with a career spanning more than 20 years, most of them in contracting-related positions, it's not a stretch. We hear talk, for instance, that he pressured underlings to support his efforts, including pushing other intelligence offices to use Foggo's favored contractors. "He had the reputation of being an operator, in the negative sense of the word," one former agency official told me. "Foggo tends to be a Boss Tweed type person," said another.